Friendless in the Crowd
by Dirtkid123
Summary: Tony didn't deserve what he got in the MCU.


" _I will miss you tony._ " yeah right." Tony whispered to himself. All his life, he had longed for a companion. Not a fake, backstabbing, user of an acquaintance; but a true real friend. Sure, James Rhodes was amazing... he had to have been to have stayed all these years. But Tony needed more than one friend... he knew it was selfish.. but he wouldn't put Rhodey through the wringer just because he wanted a companion around twenty four seven. Besides, he had the Avengers to help him along. He was finally part of a team! Right?

Years went flying by with Tony as the black sheep of the team. And that was saying something! This makeshift family was comprised of an assassin, a spy, a 90 year old soldier, a Norse god, and an aggressive mutant; and yet, the genius inventor was scorned and used over and over again. Sure, Tony seemed to be part of the team... and when the Avengers needed a PR man, or a tech guy, or a bank, he was their go to person. They were fine using him for their own purposes. But when the inventor needed a pranking buddy, or a scientific "lab rat", or even just a friend to talk to... his teammates would collectively realize they had other places to be. It only got worse after Ultron. Once Jarvis (Died) was reborn as Vision... things changed. Sure the android is a great teammate/person. But that was just it. He wasn't the A.I. Tony had loved and known. Vision was his own man... and he had reconfigured himself into a being that would never need Tony.

With Bruce Banner gone, and Wanda Maximoff on the team, things slowly got worse for Tony. Wanda blamed Tony for her parents death, and now that their 'murderer' was in front of her, she made his life a living hell. With the Avengers Progressively getting more hostile, Tony resigned from the team, and went back to being a consultant. br /It was no surprise to him when the Sokovia Accords demanded the Avengers attention... but apparently it was for the rest of the "Team." The arguments went on, and Tony found himself with an increasing migraine. Eventually, things got to the point of a physical violence. Tony had hoped that things wouldn't make it that far, he had even brought in the Spiderkid for peaceful takedowns, without physical harm! But the situation escalated and Tony had multiple cars dropped onto him... and Rhodey- his best friend, ended up paralyzed from the waist down.

Tony went to Siberia to try and make peace. He knew that Steve would protect his friends to the bitter end. It just hurt that he wasn't one of them... Nevertheless, he was prepared to help The Super Soldiers- and he would have.. if only he hadn't recognized that road... on the footage he saw his Dad get beaten by the Winter Soldier, and his mother... his poor mother strangled to death by that metal arm. Understandably, Tony was in agony over this new information. He had thought his parents had died in a drunken car crash... now he knew they were murdered... "Did you know?" Even after learning he had surrounded himself with liars and backstabbers, Tony still held hope for a family... Until he heard that one word.. "Yes.." Although he saw his mother killed in the most brutal of fashions, and her executioner was in front of him... Tony still didn't want to kill Barnes. He only hoped to stop them from escaping... Even after They tag teamed up against him, Tony still pulled his punches. That was his greatest mistake... the two super besties destroyed his suit, his only means of escape, and his communication to the outside world... Steve, Captain America, ripped off his face plate, rose his shield, and brought it down onto Tony's arc reactor. Granted he no longer required it to live, but his chest was still damaged from the surgery to remove the reactor... Steve and Barnes then left him to die, in a metal suit, freezing alone, in a Hydra base located in Siberia.

Tony was alone again.. and now he realized that his family was gone... maybe they never really were his in the first place. As he lie in wait of a rescue, a phrase came to his mind: br /"strongemLa speranza pura è spesso il primo a sorgere, e il più difficile da morire... ma una volta che è andato, è quasi impossibile rivivere.."

Pure Hope is often the first to arise, and the most difficult to die... but once it is gone, it's almost impossible to revive..


End file.
